Museums and history
in Ross and Cromarty.

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Ross and Cromarty

Pictish slabs from Edderton to Portmahomack.

The Picts left their carved stones all over Easter Ross, in the fields and on the hills. At Edderton, a tall red pillar first raised in prehistory carries their fish and double disc. Above Shandwick, a great cross-slab of around 780 is cut with a hunt, beasts and spirals, and at Hilton of Cadboll a full-size replica stands where the original once stood. At Portmahomack, an old church on the site of a Pictish monastery keeps its craftsmen's tools. Inland by Garve, a high stone bridge of around 1762 carried the military road west. The stones stand in open fields, so wear boots and close the gates.

Tarbat Discovery Centre→

Shandwick Stone→

Little Garve Bridge→

Hilton of Cadboll Stone→

Groam House Museum→

Tain Museum→

Clach Biorach→

Place of the day19 hours ago

Tarbat Discovery Centre.

A museum in the old church of St Colman at Portmahomack, on the site of a Pictish monastery, with carved stones and the tools of its 8th-century craftsmen.

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From our guide17 hours ago

Little Garve Bridge.

Just off the road north of Garve, among pines and birches, a tall humpbacked bridge leaps the Black Water in one great stone arch, with a smaller arch at its western end. It was built around 1762 for the military road from Contin to Poolewe. Everyone calls it Wade's Bridge, but it was probably the work of his successor, Major William Caulfeild. Long bypassed by the modern road, it is now a scheduled monument. A riverside circuit of about an hour links it with the old Silverbridge upstream, past rapids and pools. Look for brown trout under the arch and dippers bobbing on the rocks.

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Newly discovered14 hours ago

The Black IsleHighland Mobile SaunaActivity

The Black IsleFortrose HarbourAttraction

The Black IsleThe Fishertown InnBar

The Black IsleRosemarkie Beach CaféCafe

The Black IsleThe AndersonBar

The Black IsleCromarty CinemaAttraction

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Somewhere to go9 hours ago

Hilton of Cadboll Stone, Easter Ross.

A full-size replica of one of the great Pictish cross-slabs, standing where the original stood by a medieval chapel above the sea at Hilton of Cadboll.

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From our guide7 hours ago

Shandwick Stone.

On the hillside above Shandwick, looking out to sea, a tall carved slab stands inside a glass shelter. The Picts raised it around 780, and it may never have moved from where they set it. The slab is almost nine feet tall, and both faces are packed with carving: a hunting scene, strange beasts, raised bosses and a whole field of tight spirals. For centuries the fishermen of this coast used it as a landmark. A gale broke it in three in 1846. A short path leads up from the road, and the view over the bay is wonderful.

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Museums and history5 hours ago

Clach Biorach.

A tall, pointed pillar of red sandstone in a field at Edderton, first raised in prehistory and later carved by the Picts with a fish, a double disc and Z-rod.

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From our guide2 hours ago

Tain Museum.

For centuries Tain drew pilgrims from far and wide to the shrine of its own saint, St Duthac. Its museum stands in the peaceful churchyard of St Duthus Collegiate Church, among old stones and yews, and tells that story. Two galleries follow the saint and his pilgrims, the most famous of them King James IV, who came at least eighteen times. There is fine silver made by Tain's own silversmiths, a hoard of foreign coins and the Clan Ross Centre. By the door stands the Ardjachie Stone, an ancient carved boulder found on a local farm.

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From our guide8 minutes ago

Groam House Museum.

More than twelve hundred years ago Rosemarkie was home to an important Christian community of the Picts, and Groam House keeps the stones they carved. The small museum on the High Street is built round the Rosemarkie Cross Slab, a tall red stone covered with a cross and intricate Pictish knotwork. Around it are fragments of more carved stones, with symbols, beasts and interlace. The museum also cares for the work of George Bain, the artist and teacher whose book on Celtic art taught a generation how to draw knotwork. Entry is by donation, and it makes a perfect half hour before the beach.